Year three on a mission trip with my 17-year-old daughter. And 24 other teens. And eight adults I have grown to know and love.
Three years ago, was our first mission trip to Freeport, Grand Bahamas. On the way to the airport early that morning, I cried. I was with a very angry 15-year-old and a bunch of people who knew each other other. I felt so vulnerable.
That was year one. It was amazing. We went back again. Year two. It was so good.
And again, we returned home better versions of ourselves. Transformed by simplicity, sweat, prayer and truth.
This year all of my God-given talents aligned with imagination, found materials and this group of people I was with. I looked at an old, rusty boxspring, broken glass and trash and Continue Reading »

Hey summer, I know you have been around for a while now, but I want to sit with you a bit before you go. So don't rush out. Take your sweet time. Okay?
I love fall but I am not ready to let summer quietly leave. This past week I put an extra blanket, towels and chairs in the back of the Jeep for when the beach calls me.
And I know it will.
My garden thinks it is early July. I planted seeds late in the season and they are all blooming.
The zinnias, green beans, raspberries are so generous each day and the tomatoes are just starting to turn pink.
Each day starts at the raspberry bush. There are so many raspberries waiting for me even after I picked every red one the day before.
I wonder where each day will start in late Continue Reading »

"This is me...does any of this feel like you?"
My cards and prints are the work that flows out of me everyday. The truest work I have ever created. And standing beside them at the National Stationery Show in NYC this past May was the very best feeling.
Doing a wholesale show is a really big deal to pull off. Especially if you have never done one before. A before and after for sure.
I felt like I was building a stage and doing a one person play where I act out ten characters and I sell the tickets and make popcorn. It was lots of work, time and financial commitment.
And when it was all over, I gave myself a little standing ovation. I told my story. And I told it in the truest way I knew how by using recycled materials Continue Reading »

Last week, the fun and talented Cindy Fatsis asked if she could photograph my studio as part of a project she was working on.
Cindy was born with an eye for composition and color. You see it in her design work, in how she dresses and in her photos. You know it the minute you look at her.
She did not want to take any photos of my artwork. Just my space.
As it was. As I work.
We walked in together that morning. And my studio was as I left it the day before.
I love seeing my world (my studio sink!) through Cindy's eyes.
My slippers that my rescue puppy chewed and I refuse to throw out seen through ribbons.
Old postcards hung from clothespins on a painted over canvas.
Same canvas further down the ribbon. Continue Reading »

On a cold spring day, a note arrived in my email that felt like summer.
"Your art is beautiful, heartfelt and was exactly what I needed this morning as I continue to try muster up the courage to commit to being a full time artist rather than just a part-time creative soul."
Thank you Michelle. Your email meant so much. It makes me really happy to think that my creative journey inspired you and maybe others.
And it is a journey. Sometimes it is full of serendipity. Some days it feels long.
But the most important thing I do is simply start. I put a canvas or window on my easel and walk away. I write down the idea or words for a new print or card and leave it on my studio desk. I begin an altered book by painting one page over Continue Reading »

On several Sundays last fall, I was a vendor at The Clover Market.
We (my sweet husband & I) packed all my salvaged words, stitched prints, some original artwork, studio displays, a new puppy and warm coffee into a truck.
These were magical days for me.
I was introducing my new work and the response was so positive.
One of these Sundays, a woman named Kate came to my tent and emailed me the next day. She ordered hand-scripted words for each of her friends. And encouraged me to reach out to Ali Edwards, a designer, blogger and author who is passionate about capturing life with words and photos.
Thank you Kate.
I did reach out, and at the very end of last year, Ali featured my salvaged hand-scripted "thrive" on her Continue Reading »

Here I am. Leaning into a new year. Catching my breath and doing those things we all do at the start of a new beginning. Clean. Give things away. Reorganize. Strategize.
And this year, more than any other I can recall, there are lots of shifts and changes. All are very good. But some are harder than others.
So this year especially, I want to remember the lesson I learn over and over again. What I have to give is enough. I am enough. I have everything I need.
As the new year starts, I am smiling at all that is ahead. High profile wholesale shows. Art shows. Installations. Grants. Workshops.
I am honored and so happy to be teaching an altered book workshop in June at Squam Art Workshops called Hour of Continue Reading »

I have been spending lots of sweet hours in my studio this December. Shipping. Making. Writing. Thinking. Rethinking. So many thoughts. But one keeps rising to the top.
Simplicity. Less is more so much more this holiday season for me.
Each day I capture a bit of this simplicity at my studio.
As you read on, know coffee is brewing, candles are in the fireplace and a Charlie Brown Christmas is playing in the back room.
My studio Christmas tree is tiny and all white. My mom always put up two Christmas trees in our house and one was all white. That tree was "hers" and she spent weeks decorating it. I spent weeks playing under her feet with all the pieces of her village. These two weeks every year are some of my sweetest Continue Reading »

Most weeks, I have a few custom hand-scripted word orders. This week I had several and I wanted to share some of them with you.
Little note: these words are cut from salvaged plastic that is used in plastic packaging. So a material that has no value, now has a value. Love that! All the words are done in my hand writing. These are hung on walls, rested on shelves, placed in table settings, or can be Christmas tree toppers...
Endless summer. I could use one right now. I love the fall...a crisp breeze, big sweaters, warm soup...but summer has a lazy feel to it that fall doesn't have. And I am missing that.
Our new puppy Gus thinks everyday is summer. All his moments are lazy and playful. He is good company for me. Very light Continue Reading »

I have been quiet. I know. Even though I have not been here, I think about this space everyday.
And I have to tell you, there are some changes going on. In me. In my life. In my art. That is why I have been a bit quiet. And these changes are good.
Things are happening right now, both in my life and in my art. Art in cities. Art in schools. Art in hospitals. And all of these things are really good and put really good energy forward. And I have been putting little seeds in the ground and big flowers have been growing up.
Through all this, there has been a quiet change going on inside me. Visions of new work dancing in my head. And I want to show you all of it because it comes out of me effortlessly...no big push. It is every Continue Reading »